Letters to God – Acting in faith

Letters from God has such a sweet faith-filled story. The movie was actually inspired by the true story of Tyler Doherty, a cancer-stricken young boy who would write letters to God. And in this story, the troubled mailman who receives the letters becomes impacted by this little boy and the strength of his family.

In the Christian movieLetters to God, we meet Tyler Doherty, a very active and spirited 8-year-old who has been sick with cancer for a while. And this is not the only thing the Doherty family is going through, they have also recently lost Patrick, Tyler’s father. Tyler has received several radiation treatments and has had cranial surgery to treat the rare cancer he has and by the looks of his doctor, things set to get better. So with this news, he is going back to school but of course, this troubles him a bit and a world of questions about what would people say when they see his bald head, if he would be accepted by others or if he would ever see his family happy again indeed navigate through his mind. Since Tyler has so much faith he decides to do what he thinks is best, get some answers for his questions to the One who would be able to answer them. Tyler begins writing down letters to God that contain all his doubts, fears and desires. After finishing writing them he puts them in the mailbox.

The local postman, Walter Finley, finds these letters and takes them back to his office & quite frankly he doesn’t know what to do with them. And since his boss has seen them as well, he tells Walter to manage them. But later on Walter goes away on vacation and temporarily in his place enters Brady McDaniels, a troubled alcoholic. On Brady’s first day things don’t go very well for him but when he arrives at the Doherty mailbox he finds letters addressed to God and picks them up. Tyler begins school after a few months away due to surgery and radiation. Ty’s first day doesn’t begin smoothly either as a kid in school starts making fun of him and his bald head but Ty’s friend Samantha (played by Bailee Madison) comes to his defense. Because of this incident, Sam takes Tyler up to her grandfather Cornelius and he reassures Tyler that he has been selected by God to undergo an exceptional mission.

Postman Brady from Letters to God continues to find Ty’s letters in the mailbox and is frustrated as to why he has to deal with them. Of course, he wouldn’t throw them out but what could he do with them? So while drinking one night he has an idea, to take the letters to a church and have God Himself handle the letters. The church’s pastor sees a confused Brady and mentions that maybe him finding the letters was for a reason. The pastor offers to pray with him and now Brady had the letters in his hand again on an unclear journey. Brady begins reading Tyler’s letters and are of inspiration to him to become better so he starts to get to know Tyler and his family, specifically his mom Maddie (played by Robyn Lively). But things in the Doherty house are quite troubled still. Ben, Ty’s older brother is going through a rough patch since he thinks Tyler is the one getting all the attention but really he is frustrated with how things have changed and are not how they used to be before Ty was diagnosed with cancer. Hearing this Tyler advises his brother to write letters to God as well.

At one point in Letters to God, Maddie reads Ben’s letters and they serve as motivation for her to be a better mother so she does everything she can to do so. With this, we as the audience start to see how Tyler and his letters have begun to impact his family and Brady, the postman of course. Now in the movie, Brady is arrested for drinking and his suddenly confronted with the reality of his drinking problem as his son is taken away from him. In that moment he decides to turn his life around and stop drinking.